


Such Heights (Come Down Now)

by karrenia_rune



Category: Heroes - Fandom, X-Men: Movie
Genre: Gen, crossover community: xover-exchange Round 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-27
Updated: 2010-12-27
Packaged: 2017-10-14 04:05:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/145169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/pseuds/karrenia_rune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary: He thought he knew what he was getting into when he accepted a position as an instructor at Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters. He wasn’t that far off the mark but he was still in for a good many surprises along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Such Heights (Come Down Now)

Title: Such Heights (Come Down Now)  
Author: [info]karrenia_rune  
Fandoms: Heroes/X-Men  
Characters Claude Raines; Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde, Bobby "Iceman" Drake  
Pairings: None  
Rating: PG  
Wordcount: 1653  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None.  
Disclaimer: Heroes and X-Men belong to their respective creators.

 

"Such Heights (Come Down Now" by karrenia

Claude Raines would never be what one would typically refer to as a 'people person’, even before he’d gotten involved with the Company. While much had changed in the past twenty years, much had not.

The head that popped through the wall of the den was shortly followed by the shoulders of one of the students at the Xavier Institute, Kitty Pryde.

"Bloody hell! I say, doesn't anyone knock in this place!" exclaimed Claude, wondering if it had been such a great idea to accept a faculty position here.

He had long since come to terms with the fact that he no longer factored in among the movers and shakers that would influence the lives of those with special abilities; still, there was no really no good reason why he should simply drop off the map.

His powers did allow him to go invisible, but there was a distinct difference between going invisible and being invisible.

Granted, there was something about the idea of working with other whose abilities set them apart from the rest of the world that appealed to his devil-may-care attitude, and in the back of his mind he realized that his change in attitude had stemmed from working with Peter Petrelli not all that long ago.

Kitty blinked at being thus addressed and then phasing her body completely through the wall that separated the den from the front hallway. She resolidified and came to a halt in front of him. "You're in rare form today, Mr. Raines."

“What do you want?" he griped. “And don’t call me Mr. Raines.”

She blinked and then replied, "Uhm, it's like this." She reached up and finger-combed the worst of the snarls from her brown hair. "We've got a Danger Room training session in five minutes and Professor Xavier wants you and me to go a few rounds."

"I'm not certain I know how to operate it."

"Don't worry about that," Kitty replied. "The Prof will be running the scenario. He figures that since our abilities are so similar, we'd make a good match-up. Unless you don't want to, that is?"

Claude immediately picked up on the not-so subtle shift in the teenager's tone of voice, from sanguine to more determined and challenging, which was also echoed in her stance and body language. In the back of his mind he thought, ‘What the hell? Kids, these days…’ Aloud he replied, "Fine, it's not like I have anything better to do at the moment."

***

 

Claude had never experienced anything quite like this.

He knew that they stood in a room at least twice the size of, say, your average racquetball court, with set pieces all around whose metal walls were indented here and there with apertures that could extrude both laser fire and sundry other items. Still there was a certain sense of unreality to it.

In the back of his mind he wondered, and even simmered a little bit with envy that they had this level of technological sophistication at their disposal.

Then the scenario began and all other considerations melted away in the need to both attack and defend.  
The sparse surroundings of the room melted away to be replaced with a long tree-lined boulevard with three- to four-story houses standing on either side. The time was that transitional period between dusk and dawn. Just as his eyes had accustomed to sudden change in light Kitty began her attack.

He had thought that taking on a kid whose her powers were much like his would be a breeze; however, he was rapidly realizing that she could back up the challenge with a lot of skill.

When he saw that she had chosen quarter-staffs at a hundred paces, he said, "What is this? Last Stand at the OK Corral?"

"Stop worrying about what is and start worrying more about what I'm gonna do to you, you old nutcase!" Kitty yelled as she advanced on his position.

Claude pulled his scattered thoughts together and realized that her taunts were less made out of bravado than out of sense to get him to react. "Damn it! I'll do you what for! You ridiculous little brat!" And with that he grasped his own quarterstaff in a tight grip and began to advance on her as well.

The barrels of the wooden weapons met with a crack and a splintering. A tight band of pain made itself felt along his lower ribs and he wondered if he had missed the edge of the swipe that she had made and if so if she was simply waiting for another follow through blow. Then he realized that she had phased part of the staff into his stomach.

"What the hell!" Get it out!"

"Are you asking or demanding?" she replied, standing just out of his longer reach with a mischievous and challenging gleam in her eye.

"What the hell difference does it make?" Claude demanded.

"Oh, I don't know,” she replied with a challenging wink.

"How the hell did you do that?" he sputtered. Yeah, it hurt but at that precise moment the need to learn exactly how she had managed to pull off this little stunt outweighed the pain.

"I thought you knew?" Kitty remarked with genuine surprise. "If I can phase the molecules of my own body, then it stands to reason that I can phase the molecules of any solid object; that I'm holding. Hey, Mr. Raines, no hard feelings. Here let me pull it out for you."

Over the loudspeaker Professor Xavier added, "I would concur. Perhaps it would be helpful to introduce another unexpected element. Mr. Drake, are you standing by?"

"Yeah," replied a young man's voice.

Bobby "Iceman" Drake stood in the hallway waiting for his own turn in the Danger Room. Thus far, while each of the current students had been introduced to the newest member of the faculty, Bobby had yet to see how the older man's powers worked in either the field or during a combat training scenario.

For his part he was intensely curious, but he knew what they said about curiosity and its adverse effects on felines, so he shoved the meandering thought to a back corner of his mind.

****

 

The following day, Claude could not help but draw comparisons and contrasts between what this particular young man was doing with his ice powers and what he had both heard and seen of the woman named Tracy.

In the back of his mind, Claude recalled that the woman had been fueled by both an icy rage and a relentless need for revenge. He shook his head and thought, “The Company bloody well dropped the ball on that one. Tracy, the telepath, and heaven forbid, even Sylar. However, it was only a matter of time before the entire ball of wax unraveled on them. I bloody well warned Bennett and the others about that, about Petrelli and all the others. But would they listen to me? Of course, they wouldn’t. They were so convinced that they’ had all the answers. I wonder if it’s blown up in their faces yet or not. When Bennett and I were partners, maybe I, too, bought into the Company idea of itself, but that was a long time ago; it doesn’t really matter now, does it?”

Pulling his meandering thoughts away from the Company, both in how it had operated back in his day and how they and segments within the government were currently dealing with the sudden proliferation of individuals with paranormal abilities, back to the task at hand.

It was then that Claude Raines came to the realization that it had been more than simply his own need to pull away from them and all they stood for; but also perhaps something more than that.

Whatever that something more might be at this point the simply could not put his finger on it. He shook his head to clear it of the inevitable cobwebs and concentrated on what was happening on the bank of computers monitors and in the cavernous room directly below him.

Bobby Drake seemed possessed of a lot more raw talent and certainly a more compassionate and joyful attitude in the use of his powers. Even as he ran through yet another in a seemingly infinite variety of scenarios stored in the Danger Room’s computer memory banks, Claude decided that his particular favorite was the ice sled that Bobby used to dart over, around and around the difficult obstacle course.

Through the two-way link-up Claude yelled encouragement to the young man. “Good one, mate! Now, how about something a little more challenging??

Via his own comm-link Drake yelled back. “Bring it on!”

While he had thus far only been introduced to the newest class at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, and Katherine Pryde and Robert Drake were the first two scheduled in the Danger Room, Claude had to admit that taking this job thus far had turned out to be both challenging and interesting. Muttering under his breath not really caring who might overhear him he said, “Bully for ye, mate.”

**Author's Note:**

> also written and posted for moowithme113's in LJ community.


End file.
